Carpenters, electricians, do-it-yourselfers and others are often faced with the problem of locating the position of the wall studs behind the wall board material forming the wall surface. They are interested in hanging pictures, drilling holes and so on. However after the walls are finished and painted the location of the hidden substructure (i.e. the studs) is not visually detectable. The same is true of finding the location of hidden wooden frames in furniture and boats from the outside surface of the structure.
Handheld electronic stud finders are well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,118 issued Jul. 4, 1978 discloses an electronic wall stud sensor which is suitable for detecting a wall stud behind a wall surface. This stud sensor uses electronic sensing circuitry to accurately determine the location of the stud behind the walls by activating the circuitry, holding the device near or against the wall and slowly moving the device until the stud is detected.
When using a stud finder, it is often necessary to also use a power drill and screw driving device for making holes in the wall and mounting a fastener. Since the two devices are often used together it would be convenient and efficient to have a single device which would perform both functions. Unfortunately, the sensing electronics of the stud finder can be affected by other electronics making it less accurate, and thus, cannot be incorporated into the drill without suitable shielding. Moreover, the sensing circuitry needs to be held near or against the surface being probed, which would be difficult if made a part of the drill.